Honor 8C gets a limited-period price cut in India

Huawei’s Honor brand launched the Honor 8C, successor of the Honor 7C  in India back in India back in November last year starting at Rs. 11,999. Today the company has announced a Rs. 1000 price cut for the 32GB version of the smartphone for a limited period, so you can get the phone at Rs. 10,999 on Amazon.in. It also comes with several other offers.  Other special offers Jio benefits worth Rs. 4450 + 100GB Jio 4G Data 5% Instant Discount on Axis bank Credit and Debit EMI transactions on orders above Rs.12000 5% cashback up to Rs. 1000 on Amazon Pay EMI transaction. No cost EMI available on HDFC credit cards on orders above Rs.3000 and on HDFC debit cards on orders above Rs.10, 000 Chance to save up to Rs 2400 a year and earn 2% cash back on every order with Amazon Pay balance To remind you, the phone packs a 6.26-inch HD+ 19:9 aspect ratio display with a notch, Snapdragon 632 SoC with 4GB of RAM, 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for capturing depth information in portrait shots, AI scene recognition, 8-megapixel camera on the front with AI beautify features,3D nano-level texture design, ...

Beyerdynamic Soul BYRD in-ear headphones with ultra-slim design launched in India

Beyerdynamic has launched Soul BYRD, a new lightweight in-ear headset in India. It has an ultra-slim design that do not protrude from the auricle and will not exert pressure on the ear even when the user is lying on their side, says the company. It has a three-button remote with integrated microphone and comes with five included silicone ear tips (XS, S, M, L and XL) that ensure perfect fit. The cable is extremely flexible and robust, minimising cable noise and staying in perfect shape even when used daily. The elegant decorative plates, made of anodised and glass-bead blasted aluminium, feature the new and characteristic Y signet. Ear tips and cerumen protection can be easily cleaned or replaced. Transducer -Dynamic Acoustic design  - Closed Frequency response - 10 – 25.000 Hz Form factor - In-ear Transmission - Wired Length & type of cable - 1.2 m / both-sided / fixed Connection plug - 3.5 mm plug, 4-pole Remote & microphone - In-line remote control with microphone Weight (without cable) - 6 g The Beyerdynamic Soul BYRD is priced at Rs. 6999 and is available in India through Headphonezone.in and Amazon.in.

German Watchdog blocks Facebook from merging user data without consent

Germany's competition watchdog; the Bundeskartellamt has imposed "far-reaching" restrictions on Facebook's data collection and sharing. Facebook unsurprisingly plans to appeal. The watchdog said that Facebook should not combine or collect user data third-party websites and assign them to user accounts without users' consent. Facebook "will have to substantially restrict its collection and combining of data", and was also told to start incorporating new ways to ensure that this doesn't happen. Today's decision echoes: "The extent to which Facebook collects, merges and uses data in user accounts constitutes an abuse of a dominant position." The probe is not how Facebook processes the data it collects from its platforms including Instagram, and WhatsApp, but how it collections and pulls the data together from other sources. It also includes third-party sources, such as the "Like" button, or when sites use Facebook's analytics services. Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt said: "By combining data from its own website, company-owned services and the analysis of third-party websites, Facebook obtains very detailed profiles of its users and knows what they are doing online. The extent to which Facebook collects, merges and uses data in user accounts constitutes an abuse of a dominant position" The Bundeskartellamt noted that it had worked closely with European ...

Apple iOS 12.1.4 update fixes FaceTime bug, two iOS zero-days vulnerabilities

Apple has released iOS 12.1.4 update which brings a fix for the FaceTime bug that allowed the caller to peep into the receiver's video and audio. The update also brings a fix for two zero-days security threats that a top Google security engineer, Ben Hawkes, team leader at Google’s Project Zero security team revealed. CVE-2019-7286 and CVE-2019-7287 in the iOS advisory today (https://t.co/ZsIy8nxLvU) were exploited in the wild as 0day. — Ben Hawkes (@benhawkes) February 7, 2019 The two vulnerabilities were fixed with the iOS 12.1.4 update that was released earlier today. Hawkes says both vulnerabilities were exploited in the wild as zero-day. The two vulnerabilities carry identifiers of CVE-2019-7286 and CVE-2019-7287. The iOS 12.1.4 security change log says that CVE-2019-7286 relates to the iOS Foundation framework, allowing an attacker to use a memory corruption and gain “elevated privileges.” The CVE-2019-7287 centers around I/O Kit, allowing an attacker to “execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges” due to a memory corruption issue. Apple’s security log credits “an anonymous researcher, Clement Lecigne of Google Threat Analysis Group, Ian Beer of Google Project Zero, and Samuel Groß of Google Project Zero” for both of the findings. iPhone users are advised to update to the iOS 12.1.4 update as soon as possible as this also fixes the infamous ...

Android Q said to improve privacy and permission controls, bring new package installer design and more

Android Q developers preview is expected sometime next month, but a month ahead of the announcement, early build of the OS was leaked. Android Q is said to bring a revamped permission management system, and now we are getting to see more details about this interesting addition to Android Q.  As noted earlier, Android Q is said to allow the user to restrict permission only while the app is in use. However, to clarify, only the location permission can be restricted to when an app is in use. That means you can’t restrict the microphone or camera only while the app is in use. Since Android Pie already introduced some restrictions on the background use of the camera and microphone by requiring apps to be in the foreground or use a foreground service. Android Q expands on that by disclosing to the user whenever any app is using the microphone, camera, or accessing the device’s location. This is shown to the user as status bar icons in the top-right hand corner. If the user taps the icon, a new dialog is shown that tells the user which apps are using which permissions. The UI also has special app access permissions like battery optimization, device admin, Do Not Disturb access, ...

Apple warns app developers to remove or disclose screen recording code

Apple has started informing app developers to remove or disclose their use of analytics code that allows them to record how a user interacts with their iPhone apps or face removal from the app store. This comes after major companies, like Expedia, Hollister, and Hotels.com were spotted using a third-party analytics tool to record every tap and swipe inside the app. These apps do not ask for user permission and none of the companies said in their privacy policies that they were recording a user’s app activity. Data including passport numbers and credit card numbers were being leaked. Glassbox is a cross-platform analytics tool that specializes in session replay technology. It allows companies to integrate their screen recording technology into their apps to replay how a user interacts with the apps to reduce app error rates. However, the company “doesn’t enforce its customers” to mention that they use Glassbox’s screen recording tools in their privacy policies. App developers had already been notified that their apps don't follow Apple's policies and one app developer was told by Apple to remove code that recorded app activities, citing the company’s app store guidelines. Apple gave the developer less than a day to remove the code and resubmit their app ...

Twitter reports $909 million revenue, 24% YoY growth and 126 million monetizable daily active users in Q4 2018

Twitter, Inc. has announced financial results for its fourth quarter of 2018 which had total revenue of $909 million, an increase of 24% year-over-year. The company’s advertising revenue totaled $791 million, an increase of 23% year-over-year. Twitter’s total ad engagements increased 33% year-over-year and the cost per engagement decreased 7% year-over-year. The company’s data licensing and other revenue totaled $117 million, an increase of 35% year-over-year. US revenue totaled $506 million, an increase of 24% year-over-year and the international revenue totaled $403 million, an increase of 24% year-over-year. Twitter’s Q4 GAAP costs and expenses totaled $702 million, an increase of 13% year-over-year. Q4 non-GAAP costs and expenses totaled $618 million, an increase of 21% year-over-year. The Q4 GAAP net income was $255 million, compared to $91 million in the same period of the previous year. The average monetizable daily active users (mDAU) were 126 million for Q4, compared to 115 million in the same period of the previous year and compared to 124 million in the previous quarter. Average US monthly daily active users (mDAU) were 27 million for Q4, compared to 25 million in the same period of the previous year. Average international mDAU were 99 million for Q4, compared to 89 million ...

Facebook and Instagram to no longer allow graphic images that promote self-harm

Facebook and Instagram have shared updates on how it enforces policies against self-harm or suicide on the platform. The company since 2016 has built its approach with experts in suicide prevention. These experts unanimously reaffirmed that Facebook should allow users to share admissions of self-harmed suicidal thoughts, but should not allow people to share content promoting it. Creating a room for people to share the challenges they are going through must be created. This also includes admitting thoughts or actions of self harm. They said this content, though tragic and upsetting to some, often helps people connect with support and resources, helping in their recovery and saving lives. However, self-harm graphic images have the potential to unintentionally promote self-harm even when they are shared in the context of admission or a path to recovery. For this very reason, Facebook said that it will no longer allow graphic cutting images even in the context of admission and said that it will begin enforcing this policy in the coming weeks. Instagram added that it will not show non-graphic, self-harm related content – such as healed scars – in search, hashtags and the explore tab, and won’t be recommending it. However, it will not remove this ...

Essential Phone 2 could feature under-display camera, light sensor and fingerprint sensor

Essential Phone 1 was launched way back in 2017; almost two years since launch and the company is yet to bring a sequel to it. However, filling the void, a set of design images show that the company is working on it and has not given up. Earlier reports suggested that it was working on a futuristic phone powered by AI. Analyzing the drawings reveal that the next Essential phone may feature unique display opaqueness and transparency. Unlike the PH-1, the second generation would not have any notch. Instead, camera and the light sensor would be hidden behind the display which can become semitransparent on command. The display panel is either LCD or OLED display. Furthermore, the fingerprint sensor would be present under the display. There’s also the appearance of the name PH-2 earlier this week in support documents at one US smartphone carrier. Essential might be designing a phone where form no longer matters and its operating system can exist on a variety of machines. The one that would work with your own personal data storage, and one that does not require you to upgrade every couple of years. Either way, its all just speculation for now and things might take some ...

Netflix for Android gets Smart Downloads that auto-retrieves next episode [Update: Now available for iOS]

Update - February 7, 2019: Netflix has rolled out Smart Downloads feature for iOS users. Similar to Android and Windows, this will automatically delete episodes you've watched and download the next one when you are connected to WiFi. You can disable it from the Downloads section. Grab the latest version of the iOS app to enjoy the feature. Earlier: Netflix had rolled out Download feature back in 2016 and one and a half year later the company is rolling a new feature “Smart Downloads” that automatically deletes an episode of a TV series you’ve finished watching and downloads the next one. https://youtu.be/ke_AsB7uIDk However, if you wish to rather keep the watched episode on your device, you will need to turn off Smart Downloads so you can manually manage your downloaded content. The Smart Downloads feature only turns on when you're connected to Wi-Fi, and it won't impact your device storage, because it will always delete the last watched episode before downloading the next one. This feature is currently only available for Android starting today and the support for iOS will be coming later this year. Cameron Johnson, Director of Product Innovation, Netflix said: We know how annoying it can be to go through all your apps and ...